A year ago we had a chance to test a couple of Beelink micro PCs, including a stick PC, and we were pleasantly surprised; not only by the performance offered by Intel’s venerable 22nm Bay Trail processors, but by the build quality of these diminutive PCs.

What’s changed since then? Well, Bay Trail has been phased out in favour of Cherry Trail Atoms, but the rest of the spec hasn’t undergone any revolutionary changes. In any case, the spec should be ok for most people: Intel Atom x5-Z8300, 2GB of RAM and 64GB of eMMC storage.

You also get Windows 10, USB 3.0, Bluetooth 4.0 and integrated 802.11n wireless, along with a few other goodies.

Sounds nice, but there’s a price to pay for the latest Intel silicon – the Beelink BT3 is priced at $145, making it about 30% more expensive than similar devices based on Bay Trail processors. Is the premium worth it? It depends on your priorities, but since the overall price is relatively low anyway, it probably is.

Let’s take a closer look.

Design and Build Quality

Unlike last year’s Beelink mini PC line-up, the BT3 does not feature a very compact chassis.

At 120x120x24mm, it’s roughly on a par with Intel’s NUC form factor. Beelink even describes it as an “Intel NUC” device in some marketing materials, but this device is not compatible with NUC components. While it is a NUC-like form factor, you can’t swap out the motherboard for an Intel NUC board, and the power brick wouldn’t suffice, either.

The design is minimal and looks quite serious, perhaps even too serious. The top is adorned by an oversized Beelink logo, which could have been a bit smaller, but it’s not too bad.

No, it’s not aluminium, the whole thing is plastic, but keep in mind that there’s good and bad plastic. In this case, it’s very good plastic. The rubber feet feel sturdy and the overall finish is good, even at the bottom.

While this is a passively cooled computer, it still needs a bit of airflow, hence the vents.

Let’s just hope Apple doesn’t sue Beelink for using its patented “round rectangle” for its mini PC. The designers didn’t mess around with the shape, but they did choose two use two different finishes on the chassis – a matte and polished one. Both look and feel good, and here’s why they feel right: the device weighs 250g. As a result, the chassis feels sturdy and the plastic is thick. Of course, you can’t expect miracles given the price, but this is pretty much as good as it gets in this segment.

The layout is nice and there's not much to complain about.

The most important stuff is at the back: Power button, DC power in, USB 3.0, HDMI, LAN and audio port.

The front? Nothing to report here, just a black slab. It's minimal and it works.

The same goes for the left side, but on the right you'll find the SD card reader (proper SD, not microSD), flanked by a couple of USB 2.0 ports and cooling vents.

Brand recognition, or lack of it, could be a problem. Confronted with the prospect of ordering a small-brand PC from Asia, a lot of people are likely to express doubts about the build quality.

Fortunately, there’s nothing to worry about. This is a rock-solid device, and even big brands wouldn’t have a problem with shipping something like this toy. In any case, the new Beelink Cherry Trail box won’t take your breath away in terms of sheer design, but it won’t disappoint you either.

Beelink BT3 Specs and Performance

The Intel Atom x5-Z8300 is the slowest quad-core Cherry Trail tablet part on the market, but it manages to match or beat high-end Bay Trail chips in benchmarks.

It’s all made possible by Intel’s foundry lead. Cherry Trail is essentially a die-shrink of Bay Trail, the CPU cores (Airmont) are almost identical, apart from the manufacturing process. It also means we should experience superior efficiency and higher clocks. The x5-Z8300 runs at 1.44GHz, but it can hit 1.83GHz on Turbo.

This means there’s a lot more die area to play around with, so Intel used it to bump up GPU performance, and when we say bump up, we mean it.

Bay Trail relied on Ivy Bridge (Gen7) graphics, but Cherry Trail features a new Gen 8 GPU, based on the same architecture employed in Broadwell processors. In addition, Bay Trail had enough room for 4 Execution Units (EUs), but thanks to the new node, Cherry Trail ships with 12 to 16 EUs. This particular model has 12 EUs, clocked at 200MHz to 500MHz. Needless to say, Cherry Trail can wipe the floor with Bay Trail in terms of GPU performance.

It’s not just performance. The new Gen8 GPU offers more features and supports more standards, such as 4K/h.265 video acceleration and DirectX 11.2 support. The GPU supports up to two displays.

In spite of the vastly bigger GPU and somewhat faster CPU, the new 14nm node still manages to ensure exceptional efficiency. The official SDP of this processor is 2W. Since the new process allowed Intel to cram more transistors on the same die area, the GPU was bumped up from 4 execution units (EUs) to 12 or 16 EUs, depending on the SKU. Atom x5 parts sport 12 EUs, while x7 processors have 16 EUs. This particular SKU, the Atom x5-Z8300, features four CPU cores and 12 EUs. The CPU is clocked at 1.44GHz to 1.84GHz, while the GPU runs at 200MHz to 500MHz. Despite the spec bump, the 14nm node allowed Intel to keep thermals in check, and the official SDP is just 2W.

You only get 2GB of RAM, but given the price and target audience, this is not a deal breaker. As for storage, it’s average, maybe a bit better than just average, but it’s still eMMC 4.5x. Our only gripe with the 64GB drive has nothing to do with the hardware. It comes divided into two partitions, which we found rather pointless.

In 3D mark, the system scored 17478. Note that the processor was not properly recognised. We also experienced a performance drop when the box automatically updated the Intel display driver.

The PC Mark Home accelerated score was 1318. This is an average score for this type of system, but it also reveals that the Beelink BT3 does not throttle much.

The detailed graph gives us a better overview of the temperatures. In CPU-bound tasks, the processor heats up to about 70 degrees Celsius. However, when the GPU is pushed to its limits, the temperature goes up by another 10C. This is not something we'd usually see on Bay Trail processors, which featured a much smaller GPU. Both figures are quite good, and the system cools down in minutes. One reason for this is Beelink's decision to use a copper heatsink. Most micro-PCs feature cheaper aluminium heatsinks.

Memory performance was average, nothing to add here. Would we like to see 4GB of RAM instead of 2GB? Sure, but that would drive the price up, and possibly force OEMs to use pricier Cherry Trail SKUs. Considering potential use-cases for these systems, 2GB should be enough.

So far so good, but CPU and memory tests don't really reveal a lot with these systems. The basic hardware configuration is nearly identical, and the biggest performance difference is to be found in storage tests.

HD Tune reveals the eMMC drive is relatively fast, but the bench experienced a couple of performance drops to just a few megabytes per second. This is not something you should get too concerned about, as we often see similar results with other eMMC drives, and we didn't experience any slowdowns in real life applications. The maximum and average speeds are quite good.

CrystalMark did not pick up these strange performance drops, and the results are above average across the board.

Setup and Everyday Use

Mini PCs are supposed to be as simple to install as possible, and the Beelink BT3 is no exception. Plug it in, and you’re good to go.

The compact size of the chassis, and the fact that it’s passively cooled, make the BT3 a nice choice for a lot of potential applications, from living rooms to certain types of small businesses.

There’s not much to complain about, but we did run into a few issues. For starters, the Intel GPU driver is cranky. The original one delivered quite good results, but as soon as the system updated to a new version, GPU performance fell off a cliff. It’s still not bad, but it’s not as good as it used to be. We can only hope that future driver updates will rectify the issue.

Another pet peeve of ours involves the bright status LED. It looks good from afar, during the day. However, if you want an HTPC system that will stream movies, the powerful LED could annoy you. It can be masked, but it really needs to be a lot more subtle.

Other than these minor nuisances, we did not encounter any serious issue.

The system is stable, silent and energy efficient. Wireless and Bluetooth connectivity works as advertised, which is not always the case with cheap Intel boxes.

The BT3 features a full-size SD card reader, which is not something we see often nowadays. The form factor is not what matters here, it’s the speed, and the SD card reader is very fast indeed. This is great news because it will allow you to repurpose old SD cards for extra storage, or to get new high-speed card and enjoy excellent performance.

Conclusion

We already said Cherry Trail feels like Bay Trail done right, but that’s not fair to Intel. Bay Trail was as good as it gets at 22nm, as far as cheap tablet x86 chips go. At 14nm, Intel had a lot of extra room to bump up the GPU, which it did. Overall, Cherry Trail is hands down the best low-energy x86 platform for mass market applications.

As for the Beelink BT3, we can recommend it. We tried out a couple of the company’s Bay Trail systems last year and were impressed by the build quality and value for money. The BT3 is a tad bigger than these micro PCs, but it has better hardware, a copper heatsink for superior sustained performance, more storage and more expansion options.

We didn’t like the fact that the 64GB drive ships split into two partitions for no obvious reason, and we feel a single partition would be a better choice for most consumers. Other than that, and the “NUC” marketing talk, there’s nothing to complain about.

At $145 with free shipping via GearBest, the Beelink BT3 is not the cheapest Atom mini PC out there, but the premium is worth it if you want the latest Intel silicon and a bit more storage than usual (don’t forget about the fast SD card reader).

Bottom line: This is one of the best small brand mini PCs we had a chance to try out so far.

Over the past year or so, we’ve seen a flood of cheap tablets and micro PCs based on Intel’s Bay Trail SoCs.

While the humble Bay Trail processor isn’t the fastest thing around, and it’s about to be replaced by Cherry Trail parts over the next few months, it still has a few things going for it. The 22nm SoC is very cheap and extremely efficient, and it made $100 tablets and mini PCs a possibility.

These systems usually come with a few caveats, since they’re designed and built to a budget. Usually, you get 2GB of RAM and 32GB of eMMC storage. The latter is perhaps the most important part of the spec, because the rest of the platform is practically identical on all Bay Trail mini PCs. However, a fast and spacious eMMC can make a big difference. Another thing to keep in mind is throttling. Although we are dealing with tablet processors, they can still heat up in minutes, because there’s no active cooling, not a lot of airflow, and limited dissipation surfaces.

The Voyo mini PC has been around for months, and it’s more of the same: an affordable media PC that can fit into your pocket, and all you’ll have to take out of your pocket to get it is $100 or so. Since it first launched, the company introduced a few new versions, with different operating systems and somewhat different specs.

We got one of these tweaked models, a sample with a 64GB eMMC drive, preinstalled with Windows 8.1 and Android 4.4. A version with 4GB of RAM is available as well. This particular version sells for $103 with free shipping (customs and VAT may apply in some markets).

Unlike some Bay Trail mini PCs we had a chance to test, the Voyo is based on an Intel Atom Z3735 processor, not the faster Z3736F variant. However, this does not make much of a difference, as we will explain in the performance section of this review.

It also packs an integrated battery, so it can double as an emergency powerbank.

Design and Build Quality

As far as aesthetics go, there is a lot to like about the Voyo. It measures 126 x 126 x 12mm (4.95 x 4.95 x 0.47 inches), so it’s roughly the size of a good old CD jewel case, just a tad thicker. It weighs 200 grams, not much more than your average phablet.

So, it’s small, but does it look good? Well, it’s available in a number of different colours, all of which feature a glossy finish. The plastic feels nice and our cyan unit can turn heads. Build quality is good, and so is the finish. The fact that it’s all-plastic may be a turnoff for some consumers, but in our opinion this isn’t very relevant when it comes to this type of product. It’s not a smartphone, so you are unlikely to scuff and scratch the finish, unless you plan to carry it around all the time.

At the front, you’ll find the power button and activity LED. The design is as clean as possible, so there’s nothing at the sides, save for one USB port on the right.

The good thing about this port, aside from the practicality of having a USB port that’s not on the rear for easy access, is that it can power an external hard drive.

The device rests on four rubber feet and features four cooling vents at the bottom.

At the rear you’ll find all the other connectors: two additional USBs, DC in (micro USB, 2A), HDMI, microSD slot and a standard 3.5mm audio port.

Overall, it’s a good looking device, although we feel it could have done with a somewhat smaller logo and Windows branding on the top cover.

Voyo Mini PC Specs and Performance

Since we’ve tested numerous Bay Trail devices over the past 18 months, we won’t spend too much time on performance. The chip is a decent performer, sufficient for content consumption and some basic productivity applications (Office stuff, for example).

Like most Bay Trail devices, the Voyo mini PC ships with 2GB of RAM, although a 4GB version is available. The good news is that it also packs a relatively spacious 64GB eMMC drive, which is a good thing because it’s a dual-boot system, and Android eats up a bit of storage.

While most Bay Trail PCs offer roughly the same level of performance in burst scenarios, this does not apply to heavy load. The reason is simple: once you push the tiny processor to its limits, it heats up in minutes, and the system throttles it to stay within the thermal envelope.

The Voyo PC, due to its compact design and all-plastic build, doesn’t do well in sustained performance. There’s not a lot of room for ventilation, and unlike metal, plastic does not help dissipate heat. This causes the system to drop clocks drastically after a few minutes of sustained load. It also explains why Voyo decided to use the somewhat slower 1.83GHz Atom variant. We guess the 2.1GHz part simply wouldn’t make a difference, because it would just be throttled anyway.

However, while this level of throttling would be a disaster for a proper desktop PC or laptop, we are not sure it’s a huge deal with a mini PC. After all, these products aren’t meant to be used under full load all the time, and it’s not like a lot of people will run games and heavy productivity applications on them. Performance is still adequate for content consumption, video playback and streaming, browsing and so on.

Still, things could have been better.

Like we said earlier, storage performance is another thing to check when getting a budget Bay Trail mini PC. It varies from vendor to vendor, and can be an important factor. However, you don’t really need an extremely fast SSD in such a system, because the SoC and limited amount of RAM will be the bottleneck. An average eMMC unit is good enough, and it keeps the cost down. This particular SKU comes equipped with a 64GB drive, which is a nice touch, because dual-boot machines with a 32GB drive lack storage. A 64GB drive leaves you a lot more gigs to play around with.

The problem with Voyo’s choice of eMMC drive is that it’s relatively slow. We’ve seen this before, most stick PCs ship with such drives, while their bigger brethren usually ship with somewhat faster drives. The 64GB unit in the Voyo mini PC is unimpressive to say the least. It’s slow, and the 4K write results are particularly low.

Still, as far as overall performance goes, the Voyo is adequate for its intended use, although we've tried out snappier devices based on the same platform.

Setup and Everyday Use

Like most mini PCs, the Voyo is a pleasure to set up. It takes just a couple of minutes to connect everything, and since it’s a tiny, fanless device, you’ll forget it’s even there.

Whether you plan to use it as a base for a secondary home PC, or a home theatre box, you’ll be done in minutes. That’s more or less the point of all mini PCs, and the Voyo is by no means special in this department.

There are a couple of things that make it stand out. For starters, the extra storage comes in handy if you need to install a few applications or casual games. It also means you can download a bit more stuff, or maintain a small local audio collection.

If you need more storage, you can always get a cheap microSD card. Better yet, you can use the side USB port to connect an external hard drive. This is not the case with most Bay Trail mini PCs, as they simply lack the juice to power an external 2.5-inch hard drive. The Voyo manages to pull it off, which makes it a tad more attractive if you rely on external drives for your storage needs.

The integrated battery may come in handy in some situations, and at 8000mAh it is powerful enough to charge a mobile phone or two in an emergency.

As for the throttling, in normal, everyday use cases, it’s not a deal breaker. If you don’t push it too hard, the system doesn’t need to run at 1.8GHz to begin with. However, if you intend to use your mini PC for more than content consumption, you should probably get something a bit more substantial, with better cooling. On the other hand, the Voyo mini PC, like every other Bay Trail device, is extremely frugal and uses just a few watts an hour, which is great.

Intel hasn’t sorted out the video overscan issue yet, and it afflicts practically all Bay Trail mini PCs, including the Intel Compute Stick. It can be problematic on some displays, but chances are you will be able to sort it out. However, it is still a nuisance and could prove problematic on certain displays and TV sets.

Having Android on a media PC sounds like a good idea, but we’re not sold yet. For starters, Android TV is practically here, rendering the preinstalled Android 4.4 obsolete. The utility of Android on a desktop is questionable at best, although it has a few things going for it in a media machine. Still, we think the dual-boot approach makes a lot more sense on tablets than desktops.

The Antutu score is on a part with most Bay Trail devices, which is to say that it's similar to what you'd get on a $150 phone.

Conclusion

There is not a lot to differentiate the Voyo mini PC from other Bay Trail micro desktops out there. They all use a near-identical hardware platform, and performance is very similar in most scenarios.

We like the colourful, minimalistic design, the decision to integrate a 64GB drive, and the ability to hook up an external 2.5-inch hard drive for even more storage. Our biggest complaint is the throttling. Granted, it’s not that bad in a typical living room setting, but we just feel it could have been a lot better with a bit more effort.

In terms of value, the Voyo mini PC with 64GB of storage costs roughly as much as marginally faster competitors equipped with the 2.1GHz Atom Z3736F processor, but it offers more storage out of the box. Does 32GB extra gigs mean more than a slightly faster processor, or a design that doesn’t suffer from as much throttling? In many cases, it does, because performance is not the primary concern when it comes to such devices. If it were, you’d be better off getting an Intel NUC with a proper Core i3 processor.

In any case, the Voyo gets a thumbs up, but only if performance is not your primary concern. After all, this is a $100 media box, not a proper PC.

Sapphire has been trying to make a name for itself in the nettop and ITX board market for the last couple of years and its efforts have not gone unnoticed. The company is best known for its incredibly thin Edge HD series nettops based on Intel Atom and, as of 2012, AMD E-series chips.

Before the Edge HD3 series was launched, Sapphire only offered Atom based nettops with Nvidia ION graphics. However, since Sapphire is best known as an AMD partner, the decision to use an AMD platform came as no surprise.

The Sapphire Edge HD3 is powered by AMD’s E-450 APU, a cheap and cheerful APU which combines a decent graphics engine with two CPU cores in one small package. Like previous Edge HD systems, it features an external power supply, a brick similar to those found in the notebook world. It is also worth noting that the Edge HD3 is available as a complete system or as a barebone, in which case it bears simply the barebone moniker and ships without a hard drive and memory. In either case the Edge HD3 looks the same and deserves to be called a mini-PC, as it measures just 19.3 x 14.8 x 2.2 cm (L / W / H).

It is also worth noting that Sapphire recently launched the new Edge VS series, with a slightly thicker design and new AMD Trinity APUs. The price difference between the company’s HD and VS series nettops is rather small, but we will come to that in our verdict.

The Quick installation guide is very short. The driver-CD comes with more detailed information regarding bios settings. Edge HD3 ships with FreeDOS, but that is not what end-users want. We did not find any description of how to install a new operating system, so this approach might not be ideal for all consumers.

The chassis feels quite sturdy. Unlike most vendors, Sapphire did not use cheap, glossy plastics in the Edge HD3. Instead, it went for a rubberized matte finish.

One of the first things you will have to do when setting up the Edge HD3 is to attach the desktop stand. The desktop stand has a hole in the middle and you feed the thumb screw provided through the hole, align the stand with the base of the mini PC, and screw firmly into place. Once installed on the stand, the nettop ends up in vertical position, but the whole rig feels pretty stable.

The Edge HD3 ships without a VESA mount, while the new Edge VS series features a VESA mount in the bundle, so it can easily be placed on the back of a TV. Sadly, with the transition to thin and stylish monitors with LED backlighting, VESA mounts are about to die a quiet death. Most monitors no longer support them due to their thin design.

The power button, power indicator light and HDD activity indicator are placed at the left side, or we can call it the top side when it’s not mounted on the desktop stand. There is no reset switch, which is the case with most other nettops as well.

The right mirrors the left side and the only difference are the buttons, which are not present on this side.

You will notice that there are no air vents on either side, so the HD3 relies on a few openings at the bottom and top to ensure airflow. This also means that it needs to be mounted upright to provide proper cooling, as hot air will naturally circulate to the top of the chassis and out. However, we expected the HD3 to be a bit quieter. Under load, things can get rather noisy. Luckily, most nettops rarely experience plenty of load, but we’ve seen quieter systems.

On the rear of the unit you will find the majority of ports, including video outs, one RJ-45 Gigabit Lan, two USB 2.0 ports, one Line-in (3.5mm jack), one Audio-out (3.5mm jack), and DC In connector. We appreciate the fact that Sapphire decided to place all audio connectors at the back. This is not always the case with nettops, and although some users like to have easy access to audio jacks up front, for headphones and whatnot, placing the jacks at the back is a much better choice for HTPCs with 5.1 speakers. Let’s not forget about aesthetics, nobody wants to see their new toy behind a bunch of cables.

Sapphire opted for one HDMI and one VGA output. DVI displays can be connected using the HDMI to DVI adapter and HDMI cable (you connect DVI monitor to the female DVI port on the adapter). The bundled HDMI cable is about two meter long, and the HDMI to DVI adapter is also provided.

The HD3 features USB 3.0 ports that will be quite handy for extra storage and you collection of HD movies. Built in wireless (802.11n) is another welcome addition.

The USB 3.0 ports are not visible. They are hidden under a little protective flat on the front of the unit. The cover is held in place with a rubber catch so it will not be lost. Since it features the same matte finish, it should stand up to punishment well.

Taking the HD3 apart requires more attention and caution than skill. Still, it’s necessary to follow some simple steps, but be warned – in case you get a full system rather than a barebone, disassembly will void the warranty.

The cover can be removed using a thin, flathead screwdriver. After the cover is removed it is possible to access the rest of the screws (one screw is located under the warranty sticker).

The next step is to remove the screws surrounding the VGA connector, after which it is possible to remove the front cover.

Note the low profile heatsink and small CPU fan.

The HD3 ships with a single 4GB DDR3-1333 SO-DIMM module and a 320GB 5400rpm hard drive, courtesy of Samsung.

Bios looks like it was designed for a notebook, but it’s functional and it managed to identify the hardware correctly right off the bat. The Sapphire driver CD features a pdf file with a list of all bios options. The document is rather comprehensive, but many users won’t find it very helpful, as it just lists the settings and does not provide additional information. Luckily the default settings are ok and there is really no need to mess with them.

SATA mode is set to AHCI by default, but since we are dealing with a slow SATA II drive, no bios option will speed things up. It is good to know that the system offers SATA III support, something that will come in handy in case you ever want to upgrade.

The memory runs at DDR3-1333 by default, and this is highest speed we can set in the bios.

The PC Health window shows us some rather high operating temperatures with the fan running at about 5550RPM. While we were playing round with bios options, the fan was running at high speed practically the whole time. It is possible to adjust the fan speed though, and you can opt for static or dynamic settings. We tried to use slightly less aggressive fan settings and keep the noise down, but in the end the temperature hit 85C, which was a bit outside our comfort zone.

As we said, the HD3 has does not ship with preinstalled Windows, so potential buyers should bear this in mind. The approach allows users to use their own copy of Windows, or install Linux in any flavor. However, most consumers are not tech savvy and they might need some help in this department.

The Edge HD3 comes with preinstalled FreeDOS, which is basically like old MS-DOS, but a bit better. FreeDOS can be very useful sometimes, but you can run only programs intended for MS-DOS or for FreeDOS. You can check software list here.

Our decision was to install Windows 7 Professional 64-bit (the Edge HD3 is also Windows 8 compatible). If you do not want to buy a license for the operating system right now, you can install a trial version of Windows first. For example you can download a 90-days test version of Windows 8 here.

The boot order can be changed by pressing F7 at startup, without entering the bios. Since the system ships without an optical drive, you can install Windows from a bootable USB stick. The Windows 7 USB/DVD download tool comes in handy when you need to create a bootable USB stick from ISO file (you can find it here).

Our bootable USB was recognized correctly after inserting it into USB 2.0 as well after inserting it into USB 3.0 ports, but with USB 3.0 port we had a driver issue during Windows setup installation; we were asked to provide CD/DVD drivers, as shown on the screenshot below.

There is also another issue to take into account. We had to format the hard drive before we could proceed with the installation. FreeDOS was not installed on a separate partition and the whole disk was formatted in FAT32. Fortunately we did not have to install Windows 95 or dance the Macarena to sort things out. It’s possible to use FreeDOS to create a new partition for Windows 7/8, but we formatted the whole drive and erased FreeDOS completely.

The Edge HD3 is based on AMD’s E-450 APU, a 40nm part with two Bobcat cores running at 1.65GHz and an HD 6320 graphics core, with 80 shaders clocked at 508MHz.

The HD 6320 features AMD’s UVD3 video decoder, which allows partial hardware decoding of two simultaneous HD streams, making it compliant with the BD-Live standard.

Since the HD 6320 relies solely on system memory, the decision to go for 4GB of system memory is a good idea.

Thanks to the long power cable (ca. 2.9m) and HDMI cable (ca. 2m) we had plenty of freedom to move the Edge HD3 across the living room. The desktop stand is nice feature, but it ships without VESA mount. Personally, I didn’t mind much, but some users would probably like to mount the HD3 on the back of their TV.

Built in wireless (802.11n) is welcome addition.

Benchmarks

In terms of benchmarks, the Edge HD3 lives up to expectations. We pitted it against the Zotac ZBOX Nano XS AD11 Plus, which is also based on the E-450 APU. However, the Zotac ends up significantly faster in some tests thanks to its SSD drive, particularly in PCMark 7. The hard drive is clearly the weakest link of the HD3 and the same goes for all small-form factor systems with mechanical drives, as most of them ship with 5400rpm disks.

3DMark 06

PCMark 7

HD Tune

Cinebench R11.5

Cooling is a challenge in small and slim PCs and as you already had a chance to see, the size of the heatsink and fan is limited by the size of the chassis. Unfortunately the fan is often forced to run at high speeds. The system is barely audible in idle mode, but under load the fan quickly picks up speed and generates plenty of noise. It gets almost as loud as an Acer Aspire 15-incher with fans at full speed.

We like the thin design, but it comes at a price and we would gladly trade it for a slightly bulkier chassis if it helped keep noise down. It’s possible to adjust the fan speed in bios, but due to high temperatures, we would advise against it, for the sake of longevity and stability. At default settings the CPU temperature is 53°C in idle, but under load it can hit as much as 75°C, while the graphics part goes up to 83°C. Relatively high, but still on the safe side of things. We believe the noise to heat ratio should have been better.

Power consumption is pretty low as according to our measurements the HD3 draws 14W in idle and up to 32W under full load. This is very similar to what we experienced with Zotac’s AD11 Plus. All in all the results are very impressive.

Although the Edge HD3 was launched last year, it remains a very popular choice in the nettop market. It is widely available for under €300, but this price is no longer justified, so we are expecting a price cut. Luckily for Sapphire, we are talking about in-house competition. Two months ago Sapphire introduced the Edge VS series, based on Trinity ULV APUs and the VS4, with a dual-core Trinity can be yours for about €325. However, the HD3 barebone costs €199 and offers much better value for money than the complete system.

The HD3 is one of the smallest x86 systems around and it will fit in just about any coat pocket, sans power brick, of course. However, even with the power cable, keyboard and mouse, it will easily fit into any backpack, much like a notebook. The robust build and matte finish also come in handy, as the HD3 won’t pick up a lot of nicks and scratches if you transport it often, making it a good choice for students and just about everyone who needs a truly portable desktop.

The E-450 is a venerable chip, but it is still practically the best platform for mini-PCs on the market. It offers enough performance for browsing, content consumption and office work. Of course, serious gaming is out of the question, but that goes without saying. However, it has enough muscle for casual games at low resolution, or some golden oldies.

Overall it’s a neat little PC, but personally I would go for the barebone. It offer better value and lets you choose faster storage, like an SSD or hybrid drive. Even a relatively small SSD would do, as the HD3 features a couple of speedy USB 3.0 ports for external storage.